How to Create a New Group at TBI

The Community Connections Committee has ideas and resources to help you get your new group off the ground, whether it is a chavurah, social group, minyan, or book club. The list below has the series of steps we suggest for creating your new group.

1. Identify the need you will address. Talmud Torah carpooling? A social group for single parents? Be as specific as possible, to keep the idea from becoming overwhelming.



2. Decide how much time and energy you are willing to commit to this group. As every committee member knows, it can take a lot of time and energy to create something new within the community. Can you spend 2 hours a week on this group, or 4? Do you plan to share the responsibilities for running the group after it takes off? Being realistic about what you can commit will help you maintain your enthusiasm.



3. Create a name and initial description of the new group. This doesn't have to be long - a paragraph is usually enough to communicate the idea to other members. Include concrete suggestions for how often the group will meet, and describe its purpose.



4. Send that info to the Community Connections Committee. We will look at the description to make sure there is no discriminatory language or subtext, and also to link up members who are generating similar ideas. We will respond to your description within one to two weeks, and give you suggestions for the next couple of steps. Emailing us this information is the quickest way to get a respose, but you can also drop it off at the office, or call one of the committee members (listed on our main committee page).



5. Find other members with similar interests. There are a number of ways to do this: on the TBI website, in the newsletter, in the weekly emails, through announcements at Friday night services...choose any or all of these methods, then send your group's information, along with a propsed first meetig time and place, to the TBI Office. If you need space to meet at TBI, make sure you give Nina enough time to find you a room. If you want a notice in the bi-monthly newsletter, send it to Randy in the office before the 10th of the month preceding publication. See the Contact page for specific email addresses. The Community Connections Committee can help you get this process going.



6. Hold an initial meeting/get-together/event. This is it! Hopefully, you have just the right number of people, they're all enthusiastic, and have tons of free time to help you run the group. In reality, you will probably want more people to attend, and you will have to be realistic about what is possible, given the schedules and energy level of the other interested members.



7. Set a date and time for the next meeting. This is crucial. To turn a one-time brainstorming session into a real, committed group, you need to keep the momentum going.



8. Let us know how it went. Was it fabulous? Do you need more publicity? Do you just want to kvell? The committee can help you by adding you to the list of established chavurot on the website, creating a TBI email address for your group, and more.

Good luck!! Please let us know if you have any questions, or if you need more help with any step of the process.